Chris Shaw

Like zombies, Kinder Morgan won't stay dead for long

Chris Shaw — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 19:21:41 +0000

This week saw some important victories on Burnaby Mountain with Kinder Morgan halted in their destruction, for now. But there is so much money at stake that the likelihood that they will rise from the dead to do more harm should not be ignored.

Environmental defenders scored big this week: The charges against almost 100 protesters for supposedly violating Kinder Morgan's injunction on Burnaby Mountain were tossed out in B.C. Supreme Court. It seems the bright lights at Kinder Morgan couldn't get their GPS coordinates right, leading to confusion about where the injunction zone actually was. At the same time, Kinder Morgan's application to continue work beyond December 1 was denied. As of this writing, they are beginning to pull out.

Kinder Morgan is pushing the limits of peaceful protest

Chris Shaw — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 18:02:18 +0000

The protest against Kinder Morgan's pipeline spilled over into civil disobedience this week. By using injunctions and lawsuits against peaceful protesters, have the company and a complicit government opened the door to more radical resistance?

The limits of peaceful revolution

President John F. Kennedy once noted that, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Decades later, this fragment from a largely forgotten speech is an obvious truism, albeit a truism continually lost on governments in most countries and at all levels. This applies in Canada as well where the notion of "peace, order, and good government" is largely a polite historical fiction.

Sochi vs. Vancouver: Does either Olympic city really win?

Chris Shaw — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 21:44:32 +0000

You can change the conversation. Chip in to rabble's donation drive today!

As the opening of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi approaches, it is natural to compare the coming Olympics Games to those that were held just four years ago in Vancouver. The typical questions to be asked concern costs, environmental and social issues and security. These, along with Vancouver's post Games "legacy," are what the mainstream media tends to focus on, so the same will serve as a proper starting point for a somewhat deeper, perhaps jaundiced, comparison between the two Olympic circuses.

What are the financial aspects of the Games?

#Vanelxn: Things that money will buy

Chris Shaw — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:41:50 +0000

There are many things money can buy and, to no one's great surprise, one of them is an election.

Occupy Olympic Village?

Chris Shaw — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:04:29 +0000

As the Occupy Vancouver protest enters its second month, the dynamics of the occupation and the city's response are on the verge of a major change. First, by the time this blog is posted, the B.C. Supreme Court may have ruled on the city's hoped for injunction against the camp. Depending on the outcome, the city may choose to launch a clearance of the site. The riot police have been training for this scenario for at least a week and a hard response is hardly unlikely given the recent events in other cities, including against the original occupy site at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan.

Gregor Robertson's next riot in the service of the 1 per cent

Chris Shaw — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:03:42 +0000

It is one thing to know that politicians lie. As the old joke has it: "How do you know a politician is lying? His/her lips are moving."

Innately, we all know that many politicians do, and do so much of the time. It is quite another thing to watch one do it to your face. Case in point, Mayor Gregor Robertson's sickening performance at a press conference on the side of the Art Gallery on Hornby Street on Saturday night. Roberston earned his spot in that special place in hell reserved for lying politicians as he placed the blame for the death of the young homeless woman at Occupy Vancouver (OV) on the protest camp itself.

OccupyVancouver organizing meeting draws hundreds

Chris Shaw — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:43:47 +0000

On Saturday Oct. 8, OccupyVancouver's first general meeting was held in the Woodward building's atrium. Organizers had originally planned to hold the meeting in the basement conference room, but as more and more people filled the room and staircase, it became clear that a larger space would be needed. I don't know how many people came and went during the meeting, but it was certainly in the hundreds.

Occupy Vancouver and the fight for human rights

Chris Shaw — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:23:35 +0000

The "Occupy Wall Street" protests are rapidly growing and spreading from New York to other cities in America and Canada. Vancouver will join the list with a protest scheduled for Oct. 15 at the Art Gallery.

Gregor Robertson's riot, part three

Chris Shaw — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:24:58 +0000

You've got to give the folks at City Hall credit: they run true to form. FOI releases occur on Fridays, usually late enough to make sure they won't get into the news until Monday.

The latest FOI release on the Stanley Cup riot, the "Third Proactive Record Release," came out on Friday, September 23, at 10:59 a.m.

These releases are in response to various queries about how the City of Vancouver did, or didn't, prepare for a potential riot.

The questions asked by various reporters, including me, are actually quite simple. In order:

Gregor Robertson's riot, part two

Chris Shaw — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:52:28 +0000

Why is it so hard to get a straight answer from Vancouver City Hall? There are some really simple questions whose answers the public has a right to know. First, did the city approve Chief Constable Jim Chu's request for almost $1.3 million for Stanley Cup policing, yes or no? Second, if yes, when did they approve it?

We now learn from an administrative report dated September 1, 2011 that Penny Ballem, the city manager, recommended that Vancouver city council "approve $1,000,000 from the Contingency Fund to cover those expenses that cannot be absorbed by City departments related to the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoff Live Site activation, policing of the public realm, and the incremental costs associated with the riot that took place on June 15, 2011."

Gregor Robertson's riot, part one

Chris Shaw — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:04:36 +0000

Last Friday, the City of Vancouver released the first batch of documents requested about the city's preparations for the Stanley Cup playoffs and the ensuing June 15 Stanley Cup riot after the final game. These documents were released in response to Freedom of Information requests that various persons, including me, submitted after June 15. This first release (one more will follow in late September) can be found at: City of Vancouver FOI page or the Information Releases section of the City Notices and Publications page.

Time to resign: First Jim, then Penny and Gregor

Chris Shaw — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:58:59 +0000

The whole event has run the gamut from spectacle to pathetic farce: Vancouver Police Department chief Jim Chu and Vancouver's Gregor Robertson desperately trying to shift blame for the Stanley Cup riot away from their own culpability onto the backs of others. First, the riot was blamed on "anarchists." Alas for Chu and Robertson, some of the normally tame media are having trouble understanding exactly how anarchist mind control of drunks is supposed to work.

Now Chu is going after Robert Whitelaw, one of the contributors to the report on the 1994 report on that year's riot. Chu seems to be hoping that by slagging Whitelaw's contributions to the 1994 report, his own lack of any back up plan will be sidelined.

Is your attic breeding anarchists?

Chris Shaw — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:05:14 +0000

This just in: an unofficial transcript leaked to rabble.ca. In it, Vancouver City Manager, Penny Ballem strategizes with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Premier Christy Clark, and VPD Chief Jim Chu about how to manage the fallout from the Stanley Cup riot.

The meeting seems to have happened on Wednesday night as the riot was still underway.

"PB: OK, we've got a situation here...and it's not good because we all look like we were totally unprepared for the riot. Bunch of drunken teenagers going berserkers and we let it happen. We need some options, and quickly!

GR: We could blame someone...

CC: I know! I know! Commies!

The NDP and Libya: What would Tommy Douglas think?

Chris Shaw — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 15:37:44 +0000

The French anarchist writer Sebastien Faure wrote that, "I am aware of the fact that it is not always possible to do what one should do. But I know that there are things that on no account can one ever do." The NDP's Jack Layton is certainly no anarchist. Indeed, it is even becoming uncertain if he and the NDP are even socialists anymore, but they all would do well to remember Faure's sage advice which goes far beyond anarchism. There are simply some things one should not do, not even in hopes of "broadening" the base of the party. And one of those things that one should never do is to abandon all principle for political expediency and the hope of future electoral gain.

Libya: Pick one -- surrender or starvation

Chris Shaw — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:08:08 +0000

If it didn't have real life consequences for living people, the bullshit spewing from NATO (Need Another Territory to Occupy), a remarkably uncurious media, and our very own Stephen Harper would almost be funny.